1.1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to digital image processing, more particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing a computer generated display that permits visualization of changes to the exterior or interior of any building structures.
1.2. Problems in the Art
Product catalogs have existed for years in printed form allowing customers to browse through illustrations, photographs and information about the products listed in the catalog. With the advent of computers, there have been product catalogs created in the digital media. Some of these digital catalogs have combined photographic and video images with audio in order to present the products being sold and provide information about those products. However, by and large, these product catalogs created in the digital media have retained the static look and feel of their predecessors in the print media. These digital catalog programs are not known to allow the user to manipulate, experiment and apply the catalog products in a dynamic fashion to create a realistic photographic rendering of the products in actual use, with pertinent information about the product staying bundled with the digitized image of the product as it is manipulated or moved over a fixed composition background.
Computer aided design ("CAD") programs also are known in the art. These programs allow for the design of proposed projects and structures, as well as the creation of three-dimensional models of those structures. However, traditional CAD programs do not allow a user to utilize a digitized photographic image of the user's actual home, yard or interior room as a fixed composition background against which it is possible to manipulate digitized photographic images of building, home improvement and landscaping products from real manufacturers to create a realistic photographic rendering of the products in actual use.
Various graphics and drawing programs are also known in the art. Programs such as Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop and similar programs allow users to "cut and paste" images onto a composite background image and to fill a particular area with a pattern. Some of these graphics and drawing programs also allow the pasted images to remain as objects over the composite background image. Programs have been proposed which allow a user to preview a few selected images of certain home improvement products against a predefined digitized background image of an interior room or other portion of a house that is not that of the user. U.S. Patent No. 4,970,666, to Welsh, et al., teaches a system for producing video images which depict the appearance of a simulated structure in a video-derived image of the actual environment. The system disclosed in the '666 patent does not, however, provide for access to information about the image elements from a database by means of linking the information with the images of the products as they are manipulated or moved over the background image of the actual environment. Further, the '666 patent does not provide for access to information related to the image elements placed over or merged with a background by means of an interface associated with a computer generated screen display. Yet further, the system in the '666 patent lacks the ability to manipulate image objects (e.g., object resizing, distorting, edge smoothing, etc.) of actual products (in the form of digital images) over the background image.
Graphics or drawing programs are not known to allow a user to manipulate digitized photographic object images from a database of building, home improvement and landscaping products from real manufacturers and other venders. Further, such programs are not known to be operable to place digital images of objects over a digitized photographic image of the user's actual home, yard or interior room as a fixed composition background so as to create a realistic photographic rendering of how the products would look in actual use, while at the same time allowing unique information about each product from the database to stay bundled or linked with the product images being manipulated.
1.3. Objects, Features, and Advantages of the Invention
Therefore, a primary advantage of the present invention is the provision of an apparatus and method for producing a computer generated display that permits on-line visualization of changes to the interior or exterior of a building structure which improves over the problems and deficiencies, and which satisfies a long felt need, in the art.
Further exemplary objects, features, and advantages of the present invention include the provision of an apparatus and method of producing computer generated displays which:
1. permits the system user to visualize how various actual products would look when applied to a fixed digital photographic image of the interior or exterior of a real home or other building.
2. permits the system user to input the fixed digital photographic image of the interior or exterior of a real home or other building through a plurality of image capture and transfer means.
3. provides the system user with access to thousands of images of interior and exterior home products from actual manufacturers, as well as landscaping and horticultural products, in a huge interactive CD-ROM database.
4. provides the system user with pertinent information about all of the products in the CD-ROM database.
5. provides the system user with easy access to the pertinent information about any product in the CD-ROM database through a simple click of the mouse, by creating a "link" from the image of the product to the information about that product stored in the CD-ROM database.
6. allows the system user to select a specific area of the fixed background image of the interior or exterior of a home or other building and to visualize changes to only that specific area by dragging or otherwise placing image objects of products in the CD-ROM database over that specific area chosen.
7. allows the system user to arrange, rotate, position, resize, orient and otherwise manipulate the product image objects that are placed on the fixed background image to create a realistic composite image.
8. allows the system user to save the composite image created with all image objects in place, and to later reopen that saved file with all image objects remaining active and manipulatable.
9. allows the system user to generate a list of all products and other materials in a composite image, which list may be printed, saved as a text file and exported to estimator software applications.
10. permits the system user to erase any part of an image object, thereby making a "hole" in the object, allowing the system user to see the fixed background image beneath.
11. permits the system user to make the composite image more realistic by adding shadowing, making the image look more or less sunny, "night lighting" and changing the scenery behind the main object in the composite image.
12. permits the system user to resize a selected image object so that it will fit exactly into a selected rectangular area, or alternatively, so that it will fit proportionally into a selected rectangular area and such a feature permits the system user to resize the rectangular image or an irregular shaped image.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent with reference to the accompanying specification and claims.